La jaula de oro” (The Golden Dream), which tells the story of three impoverished Guatemalan teenage migrants who try to make their way to the United States via Mexico, dominated the Ariel awards, the Mexican film industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.

“Our joy is the sadness and suffering of many migrants. As my grandfather said ‘the paradoxes of life,’” Spanish director Diego Quemada-Diez said Tuesday night after his film won the best picture prize.

The filmmaker researched the lives of migrants while living next to a railway line in Mexico and came up with the harsh story of three young people who encounter the cruelty of those seeking to extort, abuse and even kill them.

One of the teens is a girl who disguises herself as a boy for her own safety, while another is a Tzotzil Indian who does not speak Spanish.

The film also garnered eight other Ariel awards: best first work, best actor (Brandon Lopez), best supporting actor (Rodolfo Dominguez), best editing, best sound, best original score, best cinematography, and best original screenplay.

The movie’s ensemble cast – Lopez, Dominguez and Karen Martinez – was previously honored at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival with the A Certain Talent Prize.

Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante, who won the best director prize in Cannes last year for the movie “Heli,” on Tuesday obtained the Ariel in that same category and for that same film.

The Chilean movie “Gloria” won the Ariel for best Ibero-American film.